The Pirates are Mostly Gone, But Japan Sticks Around in Djibouti

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Japan plans to step up training efforts with east African nations, as Tokyo aims to work more closely with the U.S. in a region where China’s influence is on the rise.

“Japan is changing its focus from peacekeeping operations to more capacity building,” said Lt. Col. Masatoshi Tanso, who was part of a Japanese delegation that met this week with their American counterparts at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti.

Over two days of talks, U.S. and Japan Self-Defense Forces members based in Djibouti considered ways to boost collaboration around the Horn of Africa.

While the Japanese are restricted from training Africans in combat tactics due to constitutional limitations on their forces, they can provide more support in areas such as instruction in disaster response, engineering and humanitarian relief efforts, officials said…